Baca berita tanpa iklan. Gabung Kompas.com+

Was John Lennon's Murderer A CIA Hitman?

Kompas.com - 04/12/2010, 06:40 WIB

KOMPAS.com - For many baby-boomers whose formative years coincided with the Swinging Sixties, a mild Monday in early December 1980 will always be remembered as the day the music died.

In New York, the enigmatic, charismatic - and frankly often loony - ex-Beatle John Lennon staggered into the entrance hall of the Dakota, the exclusive parkside mansion block that had been his home for nearly eight years.

The cassettes of a new song the 40-year-old had just recorded, called Walking On Thin Ice, clattered to the floor as he collapsed - blood flowing from four gunshot wounds. Lennon had been heading home late from work and was hoping to catch his five-year-old son, Sean, before he went to bed.

He and Yoko Ono, his wife and musical collaborator, had been dropped by their white limousine on the pavement outside the building rather than driving through the gates and into the building’s secure courtyard.

Yoko hurried on ahead, nodding blankly at a stranger in the shadows — there were always fans and hangers-on lurking outside the Dakota for a glimpse of their hero.

Her husband trudged behind and had taken three or four strides when a voice called out: ‘Mr Lennon?’

The star slowed and then turned to look. Instantly, he registered that he’d seen this man a few times lately — and, earlier that day, had even autographed an LP cover for him. But now the stranger had a different purpose. He was down on one knee in a combat stance, a .38 revolver clasped in his hands.

Five shots rang out and four dum-dum bullets, specially adapted to cause maximum physical damage, slammed into Lennon’s back, side and shoulder.
The musician got as far as the lobby before blurting out: ‘I’m shot! I’m shot!’ He was dead on arrival at hospital a quarter of an hour later.

Meanwhile, the killer, pudgy 25-year-old Mark Chapman, stood quietly at the scene. On the ground lay the smoking gun he had let fall from his hands, beside Lennon’s blood-stained glasses.

Leaning nonchalantly against the wall of the Dakota, Chapman then began flicking through a copy of Catcher In The Rye, J.D. Salinger’s famous novel of adolescent alienation, whose central character was apparently the inspiration for what he had just done.

Halaman Berikutnya
Halaman:
Video rekomendasi
Video lainnya


Baca berita tanpa iklan. Gabung Kompas.com+
Baca berita tanpa iklan. Gabung Kompas.com+
Baca berita tanpa iklan. Gabung Kompas.com+
komentar di artikel lainnya
Baca berita tanpa iklan. Gabung Kompas.com+
Close Ads
Bagikan artikel ini melalui
Oke
Login untuk memaksimalkan pengalaman mengakses Kompas.com